Dewar enters NDP leadership race

OTTAWA — Flanked by his wife and sons and surrounded by a sea of cheering supporters, Paul Dewar confirmed Sunday what many have suspected for weeks — he wants to be the next leader of the federal New Democratic Party.

The Ottawa Centre MP is the fifth man to declare an interest in the job, following party strategist Brian Topp, MPs Nathan Cullen and Romeo Saganash and Nova Scotia businessman and pharmacist Martin Singh, who also joined the race Sunday.

Many have speculated that Quebec MP Thomas Mulcair will also enter it, but he has yet to confirm as much.

As evidenced by the crush of young people, families, seniors and party stalwarts who packed the stifling room and adjacent hallway at Ottawa’s Lord Elgin Hotel, Dewar emphasized that his campaign will be about connecting with the grassroots.

It will strive to build on the party’s social democratic principles, as well as the successes of the May 2 election — which saw the NDP win a record 103 seats and become the official Opposition for the first time in the party’s history — and the outpouring of support for a more progressive, positive style of politics in the wake of Jack Layton’s death, he said.

“This is our opportunity to work with Canadians on the challenges we face together: To build a brighter economic future for working people and their families. To make Canada a leader, not a laggard, in combating climate change. To restore the opportunity for young people to get a quality education, and not a crippling debt. To achieve true reconciliation and respect in our relationship with First Nations. And to strengthen health care for all Canadians with improved access to prescription drugs and quality home-care,” he said.

Although he delivered parts of the speech in French, Dewar admitted the language is a challenge for him. “But I will overcome this challenge, and take on Stephen Harper in both official languages,” he told the crowd.

If he’s successful, Dewar would be the first federal party leader to both come from and hold a seat in Ottawa in generations. (Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae and former NDP leader Alexa McDonough were both born in Ottawa, but neither have held elected office here.)

In an exclusive interview with the Ottawa Citizen the day before his announcement, Dewar said he wants the NDP to build on a growing rejection of brokerage politics, where people from certain regions align with certain parties.

Instead, he’d like to see people unite around ideas that have salience across the country, from addressing climate change and creating more and better opportunities for young people to ensuring fairness in the economy.

Dewar said he often jokes that there are actually two Ottawas — the one Canadians see on the television and the one where people live. “This is a way where we can show that we’re bringing people together and uniting them, that we actually have a candidate and leader from Ottawa who’s showing that Ottawa can represent the whole country and not just be a place where people play power games,” he said.

The party will name a new leader at a convention in Toronto next March. Dewar said candidates for the top job will set themselves apart over the coming months by how they conduct themselves and maintain a civil discourse.

“Our goals will be similar,” he said. “It’s just a matter of what each candidate is offering to the party and to Canadians as to how we reach those goals.”

No other NDP MPs attended the announcement, nor did Ed Broadbent, the party’s venerated former leader who, as one reporter pointed out in a scrum afterward, has often been at Dewar’s side to lend him support (Broadbent is backing Topp).

Dewar said high-profile endorsements will not be the focus of his campaign. “It won’t be about how many members of Parliament I can line up to endorse me, although obviously they’d be welcome,” he said in an interview. “I’m focused on connecting with the grassroots across the country.”

A teacher and union activist, Dewar was an organizer on numerous NDP campaigns. He also worked in a provincial NDP cabinet minister’s office and learned a great deal from his late mother, Marion, the former Ottawa mayor and a one-time NDP MP.

“I think it’s something Canadians are thirsty for — they want to see how they can connect with their politicians and how that can help make decisions in their best interest,” he said.

Dewar was first elected in 2006 and has served as the party’s foreign affairs critic, a position he will step down from during the leadership campaign.